This ends our live blogging for October 5. Be sure to check back tomorrow for our continuing coverage.
Igor Girkin, the former military commander of the so-called “DPR,” confirmed that some Russians and Ukrainians who fought in Donbas are already in Syria. In an interview for Russian Govorit Moskva radio station, Girkin claimed that a Russian brigade or battalion may be formed within the Syrian governmental forces.
“I probably wouldn’t say that they are volunteers. Maybe because private military companies formed in Donetsk and Luhansk sent [people] to Syria. Meaning, roughly speaking, [they are] mercenaries,” he said.
Girkin believes that fighters are leaving for Syria due to financial benefits. At the same time, he rejected the idea of himself going to Syria. He says he finds it “uninteresting.”
“I think that now the war in Syria is a distraction from the desperate situation [in the] 'Russian republics' in the southeast of Ukraine. I think that volunteers are needed there. If I had an opportunity to form something and return to Donbas, I would do it for free,” he said.
Lighter weaponry being withdrawn from front line:
Ukrainian government forces and Russian-backed separatists have started withdrawing small-caliber weapons from the front line.
Military spokesman Ruslan Tkachuk said the "synchronized withdrawal from the front line" began on October 5 in the eastern Luhansk region, involving tanks, antitank cannons, and mortars.
The rebels in Luhansk confirmed that the weapons were being withdrawn.
Later, the separatist forces in the Donetsk region are also scheduled to withdraw weapons from the front line.
Arms with a caliber of less than 100 millimeters are to be pulled back a distance of 15 kilometers within 41 days.
A spokesman for international monitors in the area, Michael Bociurkiw of the OSCE, told the BBC there was "encouraging" movement of heavy weapons.
The pullback is part of the cease-fire agreement signed in Minsk in February.
The conflict in eastern Ukraine between separatists and government forces has left more than 7,900 dead since April 2014. (BBC, TASS, Interfax)
Fourty-six percent of Ukrainians support the idea of introducing a visa regime with Russia, according to the polls conducted by Kyiv International Institute of Sociology and Russian nongovernmental Levada Center, RFE/RL'S Ukrainian Service reports.
Ukrainian respondents were asked what kind of relationship they would want for Ukraine to have with Russia.
While 46 percent said that they would like to have closed borders and customs with Russia, 45 percent said that Ukraine and Russia should be independent but friendly states. And 2 percent said that Ukraine and Russia should unite into one country.
Meanwhile, sociologists concluded that in Russia attitudes toward Ukraine have been changing.
In the September poll, 25 percent said they wanted closed borders with Ukraine, as opposed to 30 percent of those polled in May, while 59 percent want friendly relationship with Ukraine (54 percent in May). And 8 percent want the two states to unite (10 percent in May).
At the same time, the percentage of Russians and Ukrainians who have positive attitudes toward each other is almost equal. In Ukraine, 34 percent of those polled have positive attitudes toward Russia, while in Russia 33 percent have positive attitudes toward Ukraine.